The CW’s ‘iZombie’ Gets March Premiere with ‘The Flash,’ First Trailer

Of all The CW’s future offerings, we’ve been most ravenous for a taste of comic-adaptation ‘iZombie,’ as developed by Rob Thomas of ‘Veronica Mars’ fame. Now, the delicious brains at the network have finally scheduled ‘iZombie’'s spring debut, along with a brand-new trailer for the series.

As revealed by the network, the Winchester brothers will take a backseat come March 17, moving to Wednesdays while ‘iZombie’ takes the Tuesday at 9:00 P.M. slot behind ‘The Flash.’ For those unfamiliar with the forthcoming CW series, starring ‘Once Upon a Time’ and ‘Masters of Sex’ vet Rose McIver, here’s The CW’s lengthy description for ‘iZombie’:

Olivia “Liv” Moore was a rosy-cheeked, disciplined, over-achieving medical resident who had her life path completely mapped out…until the night she attended a party that unexpectedly turned into a zombie feeding frenzy.

As one of the newly undead, Liv is doing her best to blend in and look as human as possible. Her appearance now passes for “Goth,” with shockingly pale skin and nearly white hair, and her demeanor has gone from exuberant to exhausted. The change in Liv is baffling to her mother, her former fiancé, Major, and her best friend and roommate, Peyton, who still has the high-energy, Type-A personality that Liv has completely abandoned.

Despite her post-traumatic ennui, Liv has devised a way to resist her baser urges to devour fresh human brains – she’s taken a job in the Seattle coroner’s office. In this appropriately dead-end job, Liv can secretly snack on the brains of the many Jane and John Doe corpses that make a final stop in the morgue. Despite carefully covering her tracks, Liv’s boss, Dr. Ravi Chakrabarti, discovers her secret and is surprisingly excited about the scientific possibilities. Even with her boss’ enthusiasm, Liv remains resigned to an eternity without hope or purpose, until she realizes that with every brain she consumes, she retains a portion of that person’s memories. Liv begins to experience visions from the point of view of the murder victims.

Much to the surprise of Dr. Ravi and homicide detective Clive Babineaux, Liv often has detailed knowledge of crime scenes and motives that she can’t easily explain. Posing as a psychic, she works with Detective Babineaux to investigate these crimes and discover who is responsible. It’s not the same as being alive again, but at least Liv can find purpose in her undead existence by helping Clive solve the murders of those who are indeed fully dead.

Thomas admits that while the show didn’t hew too closely to the DC/Vertigo source material (in which Liv digs graves for brains, and other monsters like “were-terriers” populate the land), the series itself will owe more to ‘Orphan Black’ and ‘Warm Bodies’ than ‘Veronica Mars.’ Each new brain Liv eats will bring with it certain memories or skills that aid in investigations, lost by the time she consumes the next batch.

Not only that, but fellow zombies that don’t consume their regular brains will decay further and grow more dangerous, receiving the affectionately charming name “Romeros.” See for yourself with the first ‘iZombie’ trailer above, and tell us if you’ll tune in for the March 17 premiere!